But even in New York, real-estate agents say sales of small studio and one-bedroom apartments are brisk because renters don't want to pay such high amounts to rent.

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Typically, real-estate agents use comparable recent sales and appraisals to help determine what the market will bear.

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While display ads used to be the main revenue driver, these days the majority of sales stem from real estate agents who pay a monthly subscription to market to consumers through the Zillow platform.

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There are mashups that let you see which products are selling best on eBay , that help manage the sale of foreclosed property through a network of real estate agents, or merge sales information with data mining from analysis firm Business Objects .

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But cord-replacement applications like the wireless headsets used for consumer cell phones are likely to be very useful for business users such as call-center operators, sales people, or real estate agents on the road, he says.

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With the rise of the mortgage lending industry and the proliferation of mortgage originating sales people, mortgage pre-qualification shifted from real estate agents to mortgage reps.

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With the rise of the mortgage lending industry in the late 1990s and the dawn of the 21st century and the proliferation of mortgage originating sales people, mortgage pre-qualification shifted from real estate agents to mortgage reps.

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Thus, administration-fueled rumors of a new credit could further slow sales in the coming months, the last thing either real estate agents or Democrats need right now.

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On average, one-third of real-estate agents said the appraisal process resulted in buyers and sellers delaying or canceling contracts or renegotiating to a lower sales price last year, according to a National Association of Realtors' monthly survey of roughly 3, 000 agents.

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